Uncover
by aimeedaralyon
Summary: ONE-SHOT. The five times Stiles was completely oblivious and the one time he found out.


**Uncover**

 **One – Jack the Goat**

"Stiles, why is there a goat in my bathroom?" Derek asked, closing the bathroom door behind him and walking back to the living room where Stiles was chilling on one of his couches.

"Oh!" Stiles exclaimed as if he'd forgotten about it, but said, "Because dad told me to give Jack away to someone else."

Derek stood still in front of Stiles and moved his eyes over Stiles' demeanour.

"I thought your dad liked the goat," Derek stated, a little confused.

"It appears that goats literally eat everything. Long story short, he had to print 24 files again. Let me just say that he wasn't happy."

"And your idea was to dump it here?" Derek nearly snarled in disbelief.

Stiles rolled his eyes while his lips turned up in huge smile. "Of course not, Derek. But Scott told me that you were really good with animals. And since none of the other werewolves have an appropriate place for a goat, I thought your place here in the woods would be perfect! I also suggested to buy you an additional kitten but somehow Lydia rejected that idea rather passionately," Stiles blurted out like it was one long sentence.

"You thought my bathroom was a good place to keep a goat?"

Stiles nodded enthusiastically, "Just until it's not freezing in the nights anymore. When summer starts, we can put Jack outside. And the bathroom is the only place with things he can't eat so…"

Derek seemed to think about it for a second and then he nodded slowly.

"Fine, but take it to the shed instead. I don't want it near my bathroom again."

Stiles, who was ready to argue more about why goat Jack should stay with Derek, was surprised when Derek agreed. "Wait- really?"

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't let it into my bathroom."

"Okay… I expected way more opposition from you. Why are you okay with this?"

"It's just a goat, Stiles. It's not like this is an engagement in werewolf code," Derek explained, rolling his eyes amused at Stiles.

"Alright, just checking! Say, do you want to make some pasta? My dad is at the station so…"

"Sure," Derek replied, looking smiling at the happily bouncing Stiles that headed towards the kitchen.

* * *

 **Two – Pack Dinner**

"Hey, Stiles! Look what I've made," Erica held out a Tupperware bowl filled with something that curled Stiles nose hair. It looked awful, smelled gross and Stiles' eyes were almost burning.

Isaac, Jackson and Boyd were exchanging painful looks. Allison, Scott, Lydia and Derek were in the living room so Stiles had to fix this himself. Stiles shook his head quickly and raced to stop Erica.

"Don't you dare putting that in the microwave!"

Erica's eyebrows furrowed and she looked really hurt.

"Look, Erica. I just think that we should make something everyone likes. I can see broccoli in there and you know Jackson nor Lydia likes that," Stiles hurried to say.

Erica's face relaxed just a little but now a pout arose her lips. "But I want to help making dinner for once!" she demanded.

"Sure, sure. We can make lasagne together, how does that sound?" Stiles offered.

"With tomatoes?" Erica asked, eyebrows risen high.

"Whatever you want."

"Fine."

Stiles heard a relieved sigh from Jackson and Boyd, but then Derek appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"So, what are we getting for dinner?" Derek asked, looking only at Stiles.

"Erica and I are going to make lasagne."

"Good, do you need more hands in the kitchen?" Derek looked around his kitchen and when his eyes fell on the Tupperware bowl Erica had brought, he suppressed a twitch of his eye.

"Yeah, someone needs to feed Jack and two others can set the table in the living room," Stiles answered while quickly motioning that he would remove the Tupperware bowl with content as soon as possible. Luckily Erica hadn't noticed when Derek nodded quickly and asked, "Whose turn is it to set the table?"

Stiles responded immediately. "Isaac and Scott."

"Thanks. Let me know if you need a hand," Derek replied over his shoulder while heading back to the living room.

"Will do!" Stiles sang and pulled out the aprons he bought for Derek's kitchen.

* * *

 **Three - Pond**

At the pond, about 10 minutes from Derek's house, the pack usually fed the birds on late Sunday afternoon, with the leftover bread that weren't nice enough to eat anymore. All the birds, the ducks, geese, coots and gulls would get some old bread and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Everyone was almost always enjoying this part of the day, but sometimes Jackson was acting like a little bastard again ruining everyone's good mood.

"For heaven's sake Jackson, stop provoking the ducks," Stiles commented, rolling his eyes at Derek who was walking beside him.

Jackson turned around, a bit angry and stopped in front of Derek.

"Derek, why don't you make Stilinski shut up. He is acting like he's the boss around here."

Derek just smiled at Jackson and shrugged, "Jackson, Stiles can say whatever he wants."

Jackson mumbled something Stiles couldn't hear but what made the other werewolves laugh. Allison, Lydia and Isaac's new girlfriend, Zoe, also didn't laugh but just shrugged it off.

Lydia pressed a kiss against Jackson's cheek and pulled him with her. Scott put his arm around Allison, Isaac awkwardly took Zoe's hand and Erica bumped against Boyd's shoulder, leaving Derek and Stiles in the back, alone.

"Doesn't it make you sick?" Stiles wondered, looking at all the others.

"What?"

"Looking at all those people who are in love."

Derek just smiled and didn't answer.

"Anyways, do you know what you should do?" Stiles continued to Derek.

"What is that?"

"Build a wooden bench right about here, so you can sit here and enjoy the quietness and the birds for as long as you wish."

"Hmm," Derek replied, already thinking of how he was going to do that.

* * *

 **Four - Explosives**

Scott and Stiles entered the kitchen from the garden and saw everyone peeking into the living room. "Hey, why are we hiding out here?" Scott whispered.

"Isaac is kissing Zoë," Allison whispered back, peeking to the living room.

"Finally," Scott mumbled, "he hasn't shut up about how much he likes her."

"We can just go back in right? My bag is still in there," Jackson hissed.

"Jackson, we can't just ruin their moment," Erica hissed back.

Stiles turned to the alpha and said, "Okay, so what's our exit strategy?"

Boyd stepped in closer and gave Stiles a look as if to see if Stiles was serious, "Our what?!"

"Our exit strategy, how will we leave the house?" Stiles explained.

Everyone looked at Derek, and when he shrugged, the others all looked at Lydia and Stiles expectantly.

"Would a bag of explosives help?" Allison offered.

Stiles chuckled and was quickly followed by the rest of the pack.

"Let's go out for dinner," Lydia suggested.

"Or we can eat at the Stilinski house?" Erica suggested, and immediately Scott, Allison and Boyd nodded.

Stiles seemed surprised by this suggestion but nodded, "Sure, but let's leave a note for Isaac and Zoë in case they want to join as well."

"Good idea," Derek agreed.

"Shotgun!" Boyd said quickly, smiling at Erica kind of smug.

"Stiles is riding shotgun, sorry Boyd," Derek hastily replied.

"What? Why?" Boyd started and as soon as his words left his mouth he realized again, "Oh right!"

Stiles didn't know why, but he suspected Derek trusted only Stiles not to put his feet on the Camaro's dashboard and so Stiles earned himself a permanent spot in the Camaro's passenger's seat.

* * *

 **Five - Lift**

"Hey, Stiles! Did Derek just give you a ride to school?" Boyd asked, looking at Derek's Camaro disappearing in the distance.

"Oh, yeah, he offered to give me a lift until I was able to buy a new car, because he felt guilty about making my beloved jeep pass away."

Boyd sent Stiles a look full with disbelief, "Right."

Stiles didn't notice anything and walked over to Scott and Allison, who also just arrived and headed towards the school's entrance.

"Hey, Stiles! Where were you last night? I've been waiting online for like half an hour," Scott started.

But then Scott caught a whiff of Derek's scent on Stiles. "Hold that thought, why do you smell like Derek?"

This seemed to pull Allison's interest as well and she looked at Stiles expectantly.

"Oh, I forgot my coat from home and I didn't have time to go back, so Derek lent me his jacket," Stiles tapped on his bag, where Derek's leather jacket was in.

Allison choked on something and coughed before turning away to join Lydia, who walked to English. Scott looked at his best friend and started, "He lent you…" but Scott shook his head and didn't finish his sentence.

"What? It's not a big deal right? I borrow your stuff all the time," Stiles replied, not knowing what his best friend was freaking out about.

"Yes, but- never mind. We're going to be late for English, let's go," Scott answered and refused to say that Scott only lent Stiles his clean and recently washed clothes, not something he wore every day and that reeked of him. And Derek wore his leather jacket every day for the past few years.

Meanwhile Lydia and Allison were giggling about Stiles' ignorance, wondering how someone could be so oblivious.

* * *

 **Captured**

A high beep sounded in Stiles' right ear. A sweet metallic scent hit Stiles' nostrils and he recognized it but he wasn't able to identify it. The right side of his face was numb while the left was stinging across his cheek and wet with some kind of fluid. Slowly, Stiles opened his eyes and tried to move his hand to remove the fluid of his face. Then he realized that he was tied to a chair. There was one ray of artificial light coming through the door that was slightly ajar. The floor was made of wood but was studded with dried and wet mud. The ceiling was low, and Stiles tried to stand up when a voice sounded.

"-now _we_ are going to get in trouble because _you_ kidnapped the alpha's mate! You are truly an idiot; do you know that?! I said kidnap a random pack member, not the alpha's mate!" the male voice raged, and panic was clearly audible. The man seemed to pace around in the room, Stiles deducted from the creaking sound of the wooden floor with every step.

Meanwhile Stiles tried to free himself from the duct tape that stuck his hands and legs to the chair. Stiles was very grateful that his mouth wasn't taped shut, but his neck ached for his head had been hanging in a straining position for quite some time, he figured. He remembered his father's advice about being held hostage and he was quickly trying to gather information and then make a plan. He looked around, as if to see where he was. The room he was in, didn't have any windows and because the floor was made from wood and the walls too, he suspected he was held in a basement or small cottage in the woods.

"Look, I'm sorry Paul, but we need a plan. So, what are we going to do now? Because if he's really the alpha's mate, we need to get out of here and conceal our scent," the other man's voice sounded.

"Yes, but what do we do with the mate? Leave him here? Drop him off back home? Kill him?"

"You know that if we kill an alpha's mate he isn't going to stop until we are dead, right?"

Stiles gulped silently and felt himself panic increasingly. He was alone in the room, there were more rooms with hostages. So they must have attacked another pack, because they kept talking about the alpha's mate and Derek didn't have one.

"We need to decide quickly, because if I'm right the alpha's already searching for him," the other grumbled.

"Alright, let's just go to the car and get the hell out of here."

Quickly thinking of two names for these two men, Stiles opened his mouth.

"HEY DIPSHIT AND TROGLODYTE!" Stiles yelled as loud as he could, and to his surprise his voice was really hoarse.

"Shit! He's awake!"

"Don't open the-"

The door slammed shut with a loud clap and Stiles felt the floor tremble under his feet. He was getting more and more agitated about dying in a filthy basement. And he was now surrounded with complete darkness. Trying to pull himself free of the duct tape and failing, Stiles proceeded with what he did best.

"HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP! HELP ME! I'M HERE, GUYS!"

Suddenly a loud clap sounded and a man yelled out in pain, fear clearly audible. "What-"

Another loud clap sounded and Stiles became very silent, listening anxiously to what was happening.

"Where is he?"

"Right through that door! Please don't hurt me! It was all his idea and-" another clap sounded.

"Stiles, you here?" Derek's voice sounded suddenly from behind the door.

"Derek?! YES! I'M HERE! PLEASE RESC-" and the door burst open with in the doorway an angry looking alpha.

"Stiles," Derek's voice was just as hoarse as Stiles'.

"Derek, I've never been so glad to see you," Stiles blurted out.

"Is that blood?" Derek asked motioning to Stiles' cheek, while clawing his way through the duct tape carefully.

"No?" Stiles tried uncomfortable and he suddenly realized that the smell of the sweet metallic scent he smelled earlier was in fact blood.

Derek's face was close to Stiles' and before Stiles realized, Derek placed his arms around Stiles' freed body. Stiles' arms whined under the strain of hugging Derek, but he was so grateful he could.

Then, Scott arrived in the door opening and Derek released Stiles, to Stiles' disappointment.

"Hey bro, you okay?" Scott said, walking up to Stiles and Derek and placing his hand on Stiles' shoulder.

"Now, I am. But shouldn't you be chasing the ones who kidnapped me?"

"Already unconscious and under the watchful eye of Jackson, Lydia, Boyd, Erica, Allison's crossbow and Isaac. It was too early to ask Zoë to come too."

"Let's get him above the ground," Derek grumbled to Scott.

Once Stiles was carefully brought up the steep stairs of the cabin near the nemeton, he noticed the darkness and suddenly realized that it was the middle of the night. He got hugs from all the pack members and assured all of them that he was fine. Stiles looked at the two unconscious men on the ground and he was looking around for the other hostage. When he didn't see someone that looked like that, he sent Scott a confused look. "Are you sure that there aren't more hostages?"

"Why? We didn't smell any other scent than yours and these two men," Scott replied frowning.

"Maybe they have some other place where they keep others? I heard them talking about kidnapping an alpha's mate and I didn't see anyone else."

Allison choked and Lydia patted her back smirking while Jackson rolled his eyes and Isaac, Erica and Boyd started laughing. Only Scott and Derek were looking awkwardly at each other and then at Stiles.

"What?" Stiles asked, knowing he was missing something.

"It's you, Stiles. They were talking about you."

"What are you talking about, I'm not an alpha's ma-" Stiles looked at Derek, suddenly petrified.

Derek seemed extremely uncomfortable and he scratched the back of his neck.

"Stiles, I'm sorry, I-"

"You _knew_ I was in love with you and now-"

"I wanted to give you space to… wait. You are in love with me?" Derek stuttered.

Erica's mouth fell open at Derek's stuttering, Derek never stuttered.

Instead of answering, Stiles asked, "Space to do what?"

"You are in love with me?" Derek asked again, clearly not believing Stiles' words.

"I am you mate? HOW?! Tell me how!"

"But- how could I know that you were in lo-"

"OKAY, SHUT UP!" Lydia shrieked in her high-pitched voice.

Everyone turned to Lydia, who seemed to be red with frustration.

"I am the only one who is going to speak. Stiles, all the things that happened between you and Derek, were appeasing Derek's wolf. Derek taking care of your goat for you, driving you to school, letting you borrow his jacket, letting you drive shotgun and you being able to boss the rest of us around. Oh, and the cooking. I know you didn't notice, but every time Derek brought food, you felt the need to prepare it right?" Lydia asked Stiles, who seemed flabbergasted.

"That is just because Derek can't cook," Stiles replied, feeling smart.

" _Right_ ," the sarcasm dripped from Lydia's voice.

"And Derek, every time Stiles' heart skipped a beat when he saw you, his pupils dilated, he wasn't able to focus, even more so for Stiles' doing, it all happened when you were around, because it's you."

"But how are we mated?" Stiles asked, his voice thin.

"Well, technically when you asked Derek to take care of your goat, you sort of offered your 'child' to Derek to take care of."

"But I asked you too!" Stiles interjected, pointing back at Lydia.

"Yes, but I'm already spoken for, you are not crushing on me, and besides I said no."

"But- but-"

Then all the werewolves turned their heads to the road and a car with bright lights came rushing towards them. The Sheriff's car. The Sheriff jumped out of the car, together with officer Smith, and ran towards Stiles placing his hands around Stiles' upped arms.

"Stiles, are you okay?" the worry was so clear in his voice that Stiles immediately felt guilt overwhelm him.

"Yes, dad. Scott and Derek found me," Stiles answered, now hugging his father.

"Scott called me to say that Derek found out you were missing, since 3am. So I guess I owe you one, son." The Sheriff released his Stiles and clapped Derek's shoulder, who smiled back awkwardly.

Officer Smith was meanwhile cuffing the two kidnappers, and with the help of Jackson, Boyd and Isaac, putting them on the backseat of the car.

"But how did Derek know that Stiles was missing since 3am?" Allison asked, frowning questioningly.

"Yes, how did you know, Derek?" Erica asked sweetly.

"Derek!" Stiles scolded in an amused tone, "have you been killing innocent bunnies again?" Stiles joked, sincerely hoping that no one would tell his father the information he just received.

Derek laughed and to Stiles' surprise the smile actually reached his eyes. "I was hungry and made some omelettes, and when I couldn't sleep, I just walked through the neighbourhood and noticed Stiles fresh scent on the street. So I called Scott and Lydia while I started scent tracking."

The Sheriff shrugged and said, "Whatever the reason, I'm glad you did it! Thank you, Derek."

"Not at all, Sheriff."

Once Stiles was safe and sound in his own bed again, and the kidnappers tucked away behind bars, Stiles found himself staring at the ceiling. Even though he was exhausted, he was wide awake with the new information he got.

A soft knock sounded on his window and Stiles hurried to open it, half expecting Scott and half expecting Derek.

It was Derek.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Stiles plumped back down on his bed and motioned for Derek to come in.

"Were you really unable to sleep and wandering the streets?" Stiles whispered after a few minutes of silence.

Derek shook his head slowly. "I woke up, and for some reason I was so worried, I got out of bed and decided to check in on all of you. Starting with you of course," Derek whispered back.

"Right."

"I didn't tell you about this mate-thing, because I just wanted you to do whatever made you happy. And I obviously didn't know about... you know, you being in love wi-"

"Yes, yes I know what you mean," Stiles hastily replied.

Silence.

"I am glad I know now, though," Derek whispered, a small smile around his lips.

"Me too."

And when the darkness surrounded them once again, they were both smiling broad, feeling true happiness.

* * *

 **Hi everyone, let me know what you think of it!**

 **Aimee**


End file.
